Graham Seal So you're saying put 800k in he bank for say 3 months, get the 12 month extension but during that 12 month extension, don't drop the balance below 800k for 3 months or below 400k for the last 9 months but after that, providing you're on the 65k route, you can forget about the bank balance, around 15 months after you first put the 800k in the bank ?

Kevin O'donnell Wrong. You do not send THB, you send GBP and let the inward bank do the FX at market rates.

ThrillingKoala6126 Rubbish and inaccurate. SWIFT is a fixed fee, say £20 and can be next day.

The FX rate is the inward bank rate so nothing lost on FX and potentially better than TW FX rates.

Receiving bank might add Bt a fee.

Stephen Croft Because so many visitors are complete bell ends with a gobegme attitude.

I know of a situation where the English guy got sick in retirement and his wife had stolen all his money including the Bt800k he kept parked for his visa renewal so she killed him.

She now gets half his pension and the world turns but as sure as day follows night, she killed him.

Anonymous participant 304 Nah, my kid is dual nationality. You get all the passports you can and tell the authorities whatever they need to know.

The key words here might be "locked up" because, strictly, you cannot use a fixed term deposit account (which generates more interest), for your extension because, technically, the money is not available for immediate withdrawal.

So Stephen Bretherton, if you have done this, your bank is technically correct, that whilst you have the money, it is nt available and thus not valid for your extension.

Clinty Williams I've been living in Thailand full time or part time since the 1990s and nothing has changed.

Real expats, what the word was coined for, can pay and do pay. They like to sleep easy at night and the cost is nothing.

The other 99% don't really have the money to retire and they are only funding Thailand from their state pension, social security and more frequently, the sale of the only asset they ever accumulated, the family house.

They have no real investments and no real income, so they dodge the rules. These are exactly the same people who have no medical insurance and who tell you that a bike is all you need despite them driving cars back home for 40 years, only to try and drag you down to their level because they cannot afford Bt1m+ for a new car.

Of course, the next generation have no savings, they have debt and they don't even own a property. They are relying on mum and dad to leave them something because they are not making enough for themselves. You see them all over YouTube, scratching their arse looking for the next cheapest bowl of noodles.

And finally, you cannot educate these people. They "know" and you're wrong.

Until they are deported.

I was married in Thailand so the marriage was registered at some place in Bangkok but to divorce, I was told I simply could go to any amphur, so records must now be digitised and centralised, though I do not know how far back that goes.

Always get a policy from outside Thailand from a well known western company who has a reputation they don't want destroyed if you sue them and who are regulated in the country where you buy the policy.

If you buy a Mickey Mouse Thai policy, they may pay out or they may not but you can't sue them, there is no recourse if they delay or refuse and there is no effective governing body to regulate them.

It will cost more but it gives you surety.